Police said a gunman shot dead two women and a man before killing himself in a business on Cherokee Street in south St. Louis. / KSDK-TV

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

Two men and two women were shot dead Thursday afternoon in a murder-suicide after an argument at a St. Louis business, police reported.

A semiautomatic handgun was recovered.

The shooting occurred about 1:45 p.m. CT (2:45 p.m. ET) on Cherokee Street, in the south end of the city, KSDK-TV said. The gunman worked at a home health care business inside the Cherokee Place Business Incubator, said Police Capt. Michael Sack.

The dead include the business owner and three employees. Sack said the gunman argued with his victims before opening fire and then killing himself. The dead were all in their early 40s to mid-50s.

None of the dead have been identified, and no details yet about the nature of the argument that preceded the bloodshed.

A lawyer with an office in the building told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the health care business was owned and staffed by Somalian immigrants, and that he had heard "heated arguing" before.

The building is a former movie theater that houses between five and 10 small enterprises. It is part of the Cherokee Station Business District, a seven-block stretch that includes retail, dining, art and entertainment.

The Associated Press writes that the shooting occurred "where many Hispanics have relocated in recent years. The street is lined with antique shops, kitsch stores and other shops."